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– What is scary about these numbers is that we have forgotten to teach the new generations, says Ervin Kohn.
A new study shows that young Americans have large knowledge gaps about the extermination of Jews during World War II.
The study shows that 63 percent of young adults in the United States, between the ages of 18 and 39, do not know how many Jews were exterminated during the Holocaust. 23 percent say they believe the Holocaust is a myth, exaggerated or not entirely certain.
Almost half (48 percent) of those surveyed could not say the name of a single concentration camp. This was despite the fact that around 40,000 concentration camps and ghettos were established during World War II.
One in eight stated that they had never heard of the Holocaust or were not sure if they had.
More than half (56 percent) claimed to have seen Nazi symbols on social media or in their own local community. Just under half had seen posts on social media and the Internet where the Holocaust had been denied or distorted.
Also read: Defense Minister on Auschwitz: – Shows what can happen when we let hatred rule
Ervin Kohn, deputy director of the Anti-Racist Center and director of the Mosaic Faith Society in Oslo, says that the low level of knowledge about the Holocaust, both in the United States and in Europe, is due to the lack of teaching of history, in addition to the conspiracy theories and anti-Semitic propaganda. .
– Most of the people living today were born after the war. We are not good enough at teaching history. What is scary about these figures is that we have forgotten to teach new generations about the Holocaust, Kohn tells Nettavisen.
Also read: 75 years since the liberation of Auschwitz: Rolf remembers his playmates who disappeared
Kohn raises the question of whether the Holocaust could have taken place had it not been for World War II, since the extermination of the Jews is so closely related to the war itself.
– Norwegian Jews might not have been exterminated if Norway had not been occupied. But would we have a Holocaust without war? Most likely, the Jews of Germany and Austria will be exterminated. We would have a smaller holocaust, but still a holocaust without the war, he says.
British forces encountered this sight when they arrived at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany in 1945.
Photo: Pa (Pa Photos)
Shocking and sad
The Holocaust Knowledge and Awareness Study has been conducted on behalf of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany. The findings are based on 200 interviews in each state, in the 50 states of the country.
The organization’s president, Gideon Taylor, said in a statement that the result “is both shocking and sad, and emphasizes the importance of action while there are still Holocaust survivors who can tell their stories.”
Kohn says that the Holocaust did not arise in a vacuum, but was the result of many years of anti-Semitism and anti-Semitic propaganda.
– The Holocaust is a parenthesis in the 2000-year history of anti-Semitism. It is depressing that anti-Semitism did not disappear with the Holocaust. Therefore, we must recognize that we will never rid ourselves of anti-Semitism once and for all. When even the Holocaust failed to take anti-Semitism’s life, I’m not creative enough to think of anything else that can end anti-Semitism once and for all, he says.
Also read: The Alliance and SIAN expelled from Arendalsuka
– We must fight anti-Semitism, not because it is a pity for the Jews, but because it is devastating for civilization. It is a virus that destroys and sickens society. If we want to keep Norwegian society healthy, we must continue to fight anti-Semitism. And we must continue to teach each new generation. Knowledge is not enough on its own, but it is one of the two tools we have. The other tool is attitude work, says Kohn.
Ervin Kohn, second deputy director of the Anti-Racist Center and director of the Mosaic faith community.
Photo: Stian Lysberg Solum (NTB scanpix)
Condemned to repeat history
Kohn says that even though Germany is one of the world’s intellectual strongholds, anti-Semitism took hold in society and ultimately unleashed the worst genocide the world has ever seen.
– Before the war, all medical literature in Norway was in German. If I were to write a medical doctoral thesis at UiO before the war, I would have to write in German. Still, this (Holocaust editor’s note) could happen there. And if it could happen there, it could happen here too, says Kohn.
– It started in 1923 with Julius Streicher, who established the anti-Semitic magazine Der Stürmer. Two years passed before Mein Kampf came out. Streicher continued his anti-Semitic propaganda throughout this time. He was tried in Nuremberg, sentenced to death and hanged. Not a single life had been taken, but he had done propaganda, he says.
– Why is the teaching of history important?
– So I constantly quote Harvard professor George Santayana: “Those who do not know their history are condemned to repeat it.” And when we have had these debates after SIAN has yelled hate propaganda in the streets and in the squares, many will be nostalgic and say that they should be ignored and that one should not confront the counter-protesters. But then I say it’s in vain. We might have been nostalgic five or six years ago, but now we have to face hatred with resistance, he says.
– Intellectual laziness
Although the American study, as well as many other similar studies, primarily reveal large gaps in knowledge about the extermination of Jews among the younger population, Kohn believes that there are traces of what he describes as a lack of history in Norwegian institutions. .
– This one without history is not reserved for young and ignorant people. We have examples of this in Norway today. And that’s the verdict in the Agder Court of Appeal against three members of the Nordic resistance movement, who were acquitted after hoisting the Nazi flag on a flagpole (April 9, editor’s note) in Kristiansand. What the judges of the Court of Appeal did not understand was that it was a hate statement directed specifically at Jews, says Kohn with reference to section 185 of the Penal Code on hate statements.
– Not understanding how central anti-Semitism was in Nazi ideology is ignorant and without history. The lack of history today is intellectual laziness, Kohn concludes.
P.S! Correct answer: around 6 million Jews were killed during WWII (read more at Store norske leksikon)
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